Into the woods by 4:30 AM to cook. R/O and evaporator going by 5:30 AM. The evaporator was sweet. Took off six batches. The first batch was at 6:00 AM. R/O finished by 8:55 AM. Went to 6 Brix. Routine day cooking.
36 overnight but there was ice in places. The ground is still cold. Up to 45, but cloudy and light fog all day.
Had a conference call with other producers across the US and Canada. A lot of golden syrup being made. Had reports that 40% and even 50% of their crop was golden. Our golden wasn’t unique to us, but it’s still special for us.
The day cooking. 5:30 AM R/O start 6:00 AM batch 7:20 AM batch 8:25 AM batch 8:55 AM R/O finished 9:00 AM 6.75” of concentrate 9:40 AM batch 10:00 AM 5.25” 10:20 AM batch 11:00 AM 2.75” 12:15 PM batch 12:30 PM done
Wash cycle running now. Using the wash tank heater we brought the water to 108 and kept the heater on. We’ll see if that helps.
Into the woods by 5:45 AM to check the O-ring (U-cup) at the bottom of the membrane. The seal looked fine. That leaves the pump: it’s feeding too much water or sap. We’ll work on strategies to compensate for that tomorrow when we cook.
Collected 285 gallons of sap. A weak 2 Brix. Trees dripped into last night, then resumed dripping today. Nice looking sap.
30 overnight, but again a lot of ice. The ground is still cold. Cloudy all day until 3:00 PM when the sun appeared. Temperature up to 45.
We’ll cook tomorrow. Back to the farmhouse by 5:00 PM.
30 overnight but it might have been colder because there was a lot of ice. Cloudy most of the day, but sunny between Noon and 4:00 PM. Temperature up to 45 but warmed slowly. Trees slowly dripping. After several days of very cold weather they may take a few days to warm.
Worked on troubleshooting the R/O feed pump to find the root cause of the wash cycle not getting to 113. Troubleshooting is about isolating components and testing variations. We know the new feed pump works but troubleshooting starts with examining the most recent change. We’ve already eliminated the broken wash tank valve and the quick release.
Called the R/O manufacturer, Lepierre. They had some troubleshooting steps, but it’s not likely they will resolve this problem. They said the room was too cold and the tank is losing heat to the room and we should wrap the tank to keep it warm. But it’s the same room from past years. It’s 6’ x 8’ insulated room. The heater keeps the room between 50 and 60. We didn’t have this problem past years. They also said to check the temperature sensor on the R/O to verify it works. We took the sensor out of the R/O pipes. Pointed a heat gun at it. After it exceeded 113, the high temperature warning light of the R/O came on. The sensor works.
Tomorrow we’ll check if the O ring (U-cup) the bottom of the membrane seals tightly. We tested the permeate on Saturday when we last used the R/O. It tested at 0 Brix; no sugar. If the seal wasn’t tight, the permeate would likely have sugar. But we’ll check it anyway to be sure its sealing.
Next we looked at the feed pump intake. The pump warms the water through friction with the membrane. More water will take longer to heat . The intake is 1 1/4” and it’s feed by a 1 1/4” line. The intake on the old pump was 1.” It was also feed by a 1 1/4” line, but the feed pump had a reducer that restricted the intake 1.” Going from 1” to 1 1/4” almost doubles the cross section and would greatly increase the volume of water it could move. It’s possible the pump is pushing too much water.
Other symptoms:
The flow rate on the concentrate and permeate meters is higher then we’ve experienced in the past.
A 1” line feeds water back from the membrane to wash tank. It’s almost full of water during the wash cycle. This also differs from past experience when that line had a fast trickle of water. .
One possible solution is to leave the tank heater on during the entire wash cycle. We used the tank heater with a “soap” wash to warm the water to 90 before adding the “soap.” But we can try using it for the entire wash cycle. We increased the thermostat to 107 and we’ll leave it on the entire wash cycle to help the pump. At 107 the pump only needs to generate 6 degrees to reach 113.
It’s official: the first three milk cans of syrup in 2023 are Grade A, Golden color and Delicate flavor. This is picture of the grading from today’s bottling. This is special for us. With our older equipment its difficult to make Golden Delicate syrup. This is our bragging picture.
Grade A Golden Delicate Maple Syrup
Into the woods by 7:00 AM to check the R/O. The wash cycle ran all night again. Temperature reached 109 but that was after 15 hours. Something is wrong. We’ll check with the manufacturer tomorrow, but suspect the O ring (U cup) at the bottom of the membrane isn’t sealing tightly. Without a tight seal it doesn’t generate the needed friction to heat the water passing through the membrane during the wash cycle.
Emptied the milk can into the finishing pan by 8:30 AM. Started the fire on the finishing pan by 11:45 AM. Syrup ready for filtering by 1:00 PM. Started bottling by 1:30 PM. We monitored each step carefully so we didn’t make a mistake and mess up what we hoped would be Golden Delicate syrup.
Bottled some of the 500 ml maple leaf bottles so we have syrup to show off. Total bottling: 14 quarts; 33 pints; 11 250 ml.
15 overnight. Sunny today. Warmed to 36 late this afternoon but the wind was cold. Some melting. Tree pressure was -9 overnight but up to 15 this afternoon when it warmed. Trees started to drip slowly but not enough to collect.
A lot of snow on the ground for March 19th. Many years, the snow has melted by now. Last week’s snow storms of 20” are the reason we still have snow on the ground yet.
Into the woods by 7:30 AM. It was cold overnight, 10, but we can work through the cold. Expected an easy day. 160 gallons with the R/O should take 3 hours. With startup and shutdown time we should be done by Noon or earlier.
The R/O was still running the wash cycle when we arrived in the woods at 7:30 AM. Temperature was only 104. Something was off. It should have shutdown automatically after reaching 113. That should have taken 6 hours maybe. Turned off the R/O. Not sure of the impact of an incomplete wash cycle.
Started troubleshooting. Found a cracked valve on the R/O wash tank. It wasn’t leaking, but if it compromised the seal it could have pulled in air disrupting and cooling the circulating water. We made arrangements to get a new valve. Another concern was the quick release on the new feed pump may not be sealing tight enough. It’s not leaking, but if the seal is compromised, it could pull in air and disrupt the pump. A symptom we noticed is the feed pump not reaching and holding 25 PSI. It normally takes under 5 seconds when water or sap is present. Found enough fittings to replace the quick release and made a new line connecting to the feed pump.
Installed the new valve and reconnected all lines to the pump, then tried to prime the pump. Water from the storage tank wasn’t flowing to prime the pump. Suspected a frozen line leading from the water storage tank to the pump. Found a wire to use as a snake to probe the line. Encountered ice where the line enters the building. The heat tape didn’t extend through the wall and the room heater didn’t warm though the wall. Used the heat gun to thaw. Reconnected the lines. The pump primed so we could pump water through the R/O. Things were looking up.
Configured the R/O to concentrate sap. Opened the sap feed value. The feed pump couldn’t reach 25 PSI. Suspected another frozen line. A few minutes with the heat gun on the tank and we heard the gurgles of sap moving in the line. But the feed pump still wouldn’t reach and hold 25 PSI. Took off the line from the tank to R/O. A lot of work removing it to find no ice. The line connecting to the tank must have had the ice. Back with the heat gun. Thawed it again. Reconnected everything. The feed pump got sap and held 25 PSI. Started concentrating with the high pressure pump. All my preparation with heating tapes and tank heater yesterday didn’t help because we didn’t account for the place the line enters the building. It was Noon. Expected to be done by this time.
The challenges weren’t over. Expected the R/O to finish by 1:30 PM. It didn’t. The Brix kept increasing. By the end of the day it was reaching 12 Brix. And the temperature increased to over 70. This isn’t normal. We speculate we were feeding the sap through twice. The valve from the storage tank to the evaporator was open. We opened it while troubleshooting the frozen pipe: if sap could flow from the tank to the evaporator, it would also flow to the R/O because the R/O feed line branches off up-line from the evaporator. At shutdown we noticed the valve to the evaporate was still open. That could explain the higher Brix and temperatures because with that valve open, sap from the storage tank and concentrate tank can mix allowing sap through the R/O twice.
Diagram of sap flow from tank to R/O to evaporator
A wash cycle is running now. Hoping it reaches and shuts off at 113 and doesn’t run all night. We’ll see in the morning.
10 overnight. Snow flurries gave dusting of snow. High of 27. Everything stayed frozen.
The day cooking 11:00 AM -5 PSI 12:00 PM R/O start 12:00 PM -5 PSI 1:10 PM batch 2:00 PM Stopped R/O 2:20 PM batch 3:15 PM done
Audio clip of the R/O pumps running signifying the season getting easier. It’s music to our ears.
Into the woods by 5:00 AM. Got the R/O going by 6:30 AM. There was apprehension about it working. The feed pump incident is still fresh. It came online without incident. Started at 6 Brix then increased to 7 Brix. Only 300 PSI on the high pressure gauge. Got good flows at 2 liters/minute. The membrane preformed well. R/O finished by 9:35 AM.
Slight problem with the rinse cycle. The feed pump wouldn’t stay at 25 PSI. We had to try several times before it held pressure. Speculate the quick release we placed on the feed pump isn’t sealing tight enough causing the pump to ingest air.
Done cooking by 1:00 PM. We expected to be done for the day, but discovered the trees ran overnight and needed collecting. The weather gets colder tomorrow with a low of 15 and high of 28. The sap was liquid today so collect it before it becomes ice.
Picked up 160 gallons. Sugar is still down: Brix 1.75.
Placed the tank heater in the storage tank. And wrapped a heating tape on the feed line to the R/O. Wanted to prepare for the cold temperatures and prevent ice for tomorrow.
33/34 overnight. Some rain, but not a lot. Temperate dropped by 7:15 AM. Some snow flurries. Snow got crunchy. Sun came out by 10:00 AM. Temperature up to 34, but a cold northwest wind made it colder. But the trees warmed enough to run. Or try to run. We had sap icicles on many spouts caused by sap moving in the tree but freezing when it hits the colder air on the spout.
The day cooking 6:30 AM R/O start 8:00 AM -9 PSI 9:35 AM R/O done 9:40 AM batch 10:00 AM 9” concentrate 10:00 AM -9 PSI 10:40 AM batch 11:00 AM 6” 11:00 AM 1 PSI 12:00 PM 2.75” 12:00 PM 7 PSI 12:30 PM 1” 12:35 PM batch 1:00 PM done
Into the woods by 10:30 AM to check buckets. Many full, but also a lot of ice in the buckets. It’s not clear when the trees dripped so much to create full buckets of ice. It was before yesterday when the low was -2. That low caused the ice.
Used buckets to store sap by moving sap from full and over flowing buckets to less full buckets. Checked the weather forecast: rain starting between 2:30 PM and 3:00 PM. Starting collecting at 1:00 PM hoping to avoid the rain. Finished collecting by 2:30 PM just as rain started. 270 gallons. The trees had mostly stopped dripping by the time we collected.
Rain and snow mix tonight. Northern Wisconsin is getting 12”-18” of snow.
Back to the farmhouse by 4:30 PM after we pumped sap into the storage tank.
14 overnight then down to 10 at sunrise. Sunny and up to 33 by late afternoon. A little melting. Cold again tonight but starts to warm tomorrow. Trees actually had 4 PSI.
More snow overnight. Since Friday we’ve had 8” according to he National Weather Service. A lot of that snow came overnight. Mostly cloudy today with high of 29. Temperature falls to the teens tonight.
Checked the woods at 4:30 PM. Increased the R/O room heater setting to accommodate the colder temperature overnight.
